Hello. I'm Stephen Toope and I'm very pleased to address you as I start my
second year as Vice-Chancellor.
The past 12 months have certainly been eventful.
There's a great deal of change and some anxiety in the British higher education system.
Not even Cambridge with its distinguished history and exceptional
record of achievement, has been immune to the general disquiet.
We've had to deal with some difficult issues.
One of them was the decision on how best to manage
our endowment in a way that is consistent both with our responsibility
to make our University financially sustainable and our fundamental
responsibility to protect our environment.
Even more challenging has been the
difficult matter of pensions.
I understand the frustration expressed by
many colleagues.
I've repeatedly expressed my own frustration at not
being able to deliver easy answers to questions that are complicated and
national in scope.
We have not yet got a resolution,
though I'm hopeful we will reach one.
In the meantime, I will continue to push for a creative
long-term solution that offers fair remuneration while being sustainable for
future generations.
The past year has been full of
milestones for the University.
One of them was the official opening of this
magnificent building - the new home of our Department of Chemical Engineering
and Biotechnology.
As part of getting to know and understand the University,
I've spent much time listening to staff and students through a formal
consultation process myCambridge.
Alongside my various meetings with staff and students,
the consultation has given me a unique opportunity to understand where our
greatest strengths are - as well as what challenges and risks we face.
A summary of the feedback has now been published.
But the end of the consultation is not the end of the conversation.
I will continue to listen and learn from
all of you as we navigate together through the years ahead.
What I've heard over the past 12 months allows me to sketch out some
widely shared objectives and common goals.
There's no question about our outstanding research record
but we cannot afford to stand still. Other universities and countries are
investing and improving their research performance. Cambridge must do the same.
Continued and expanded excellence requires that we build on existing
research initiatives, foster new areas of research strength
and address new research questions.
We cannot truly thrive as a university if we are not
open to the social and cultural diversity of the world around us.
I am pleased to announce that we are undertaking cross-University efforts to
achieve a step change in widening participation.
A comprehensive student support initiative
will encompass a range of schemes including postgraduate
studentships, support for undergraduate students and the development of a
comprehensive student well-being campaign.
I know what difference the
right support at the right moment can make in someone's life. So I have great
hopes for our student support initiative and for its potential to transform not
only the lives of those who benefit from it but the life of our University.
We do not yet understand the final form or the full implications of Brexit.
But we are preparing for it.
Even in an era of potential national retrenchment
Cambridge will not abdicate its responsibility to connect globally.
We must continue to reaffirm that European partnerships are centrally important to Cambridge.
If and when the country transitions out of the European Union,
we will continue to look out for those European citizens
who are members of our community, and will offer as much support as we can to
them and their families.
I said a year ago that I wanted our University to be
"an unstoppable, unapologetic force for knowledge and understanding, for more
inclusive community and for the betterment of our shared world."
Today I am more ambitious than ever for our University.
I ask that we all continue to
work to ensure that in the years ahead Cambridge is not only a university that
reflects the society it serves,
but one that is also able to improve it.